The Bronx Defenders Our Projects - Solitary Confinement Project

On November 18th, Skylar Albertson spoke at a NYC Board of Correction (BOC) meeting concerning the use of solitary confinement and the Department of Correction’s (DOC) proposal to create Enhanced Supervision Housing (ESH) units at Rikers Island. The BOC, an independent oversight agency responsible for setting guidelines for the DOC, has been engaged in a…

NEW YORK — Prisoners’ rights advocates and lawmakers on Tuesday welcomed the news that the top uniformed official at New York City’s Department of Correction, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to rampant violence in a Rikers Island juvenile detention facility, is stepping down. Chief of Department William Clemons, who climbed to…

“Several were younger than me, I can’t imagine myself in their places. These youths are completely dehumanized, they are called ‘bing monsters.’ It’s terrible to see that it is considered normal to brutalize youths this young.” – Skylar Albertson, Assistant to the Director, The Bronx Defenders “We have paid bail for 140 people, who were…

Written Comments of The Bronx Defenders New York City Council Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Juvenile Justice Good afternoon. My name is Dave Casellas, and I work as a client coordinator at The Bronx Defenders. In this role, I help Bronx Defenders clients and their families…

In this week’s New Yorker, I wrote about a sixteen-year-old boy from the Bronx named Kalief Browder, who was accused of robbery and confined on Rikers Island. He stayed there for three years, waiting for a trial that never happened. For the majority of that time, he was in solitary confinement, locked in a cell…

The 8th Amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment. Yet it happens every day in prisons across the country. Putting aside capital punishment, which I would argue is cruel and unusual on its face, Americans are ignoring a host of horrific conditions that inmates are subjected to. This is not only morally and constitutionally dangerous; it…

The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. The American Civil Liberties Union released 26 reports alleging extensive abuses in Arizona’s prisons, including claims that individuals are being placed in solitary confinement because prison beds elsewhere are…

Inmates are placed in solitary confinement at Rikers Island for “inexcusably extreme” amounts of time, a new report charges, “egregiously disproportionate” to the infractions they are alleged to have committed. While in solitary, it can be difficult for inmates to get access to the most basic of services, including food, showers, and phone time. That’s…

‘The interviews expose a systemic practice that is unquestionably inhumane,’ concludes the report by The Bronx Defenders. Of the 59 inmates interviewed, some were as young as 16 — and their median age was 20. The “horrific conditions” endured by inmates in solitary confinement at Rikers Island are exposed in a report released Thursday by a…

The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. (Brigid Bergin/WNYC) A new report…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2014 Contact: Skylar Albertson, The Bronx Defenders, (347) 842-1215, SkylarA@bronxdefenders.org Voices From the Box: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island New York – The Bronx Defenders released a report summarizing the experiences of 59 current and former clients who were subjected to extreme isolation in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The…

The Bronx Defenders was at City Hall yesterday where Mayor de Blasio signed into law Intro-292A, which will bring increased transparency to the use of solitary confinement in New York City jails, an important first step toward ending this torturous practice. Under this law the Department of Corrections will be required to publish four reports a…

The Bronx Defenders condemns the conditions adolescents at Rikers Island are being held in and the treatment they are subjected to as outlined in the August 4, 2014 report by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Barara. For too long, the city of New York has neglected adolescents involved in the…

Read The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson’s “Letter to Editor” published in The New York Times in response to their recent article on mental illness among inmates at Rikers Island: To the Editor: “Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail” (front page, July 14) paints a horrifying but accurate picture of the abuse that mentally ill…

On Thursday, June 12th, 2014, The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson delivered testimony at the Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Mental Health, Development Disability, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Disability Services Solitary Confinement Hearing. Since January, Albertson and Social Work Intern Leah Baez have conducted 23 interviews with…